94-10-01 Jawbreaker – Undone – Lash Out – [Bitter Smile]

This ‘Jawbreaker’ tour was organised by Mary Jane Weatherbee (later MRR collaborator; she ran Lookout! recs UK, together with Aidan Taylor & Christy Colcord). ‘Jawbreaker’ resided in the Californian Bay Area (Berkeley/San Francisco) and played melodic hardcore. They were guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach (and lead-vocalist; with very recognisable, hoarse vocals), bassist Chris Bauermeister and drummer Adam Pfahler. Their music was melodic mid-tempo HC. I’d seen them play live in San Francisco in 1989 and liked them a lot… But when they signed to Geffen recs (a major label) – after this tour – my ‘love’ for them cooled down a lot…but hey, they were “never punk” (their own words)… They had been announced already before (92-10-04) but didn’t show up then… They had a bunch of 7”s and LPs under their belt by this time. Their latest ‘DIY’ LP 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (out on S.F. label Tupelo recs) was recorded May/August ‘93.

photo from Stonehenge #3 (Christophe Mora’s zine)

‘Lash Out’ was a Norwegian hardcore/metal (“combining dark metal and classic hardcore”) band from Molde. Members were: Anders Wimpelman (vocals), Bjørnar Næss (guitar), Vegard Waske (drums), Frank Johannessen (guitar) and Håvard Godøy (bass). They had some records out on Stormstrike recs from Germany. The Worn Path 12” was recorded in June 1994. That year there was also a split-7” released with ‘Contention’ (also from Norway; ‘Onward’s Arne Olav Haabeth sang for them); these were supposed to come along as support but that didn’t happen. The tour-schedule mentions two dates in Langemark but I guess that was because this was where their contact Joost Noyelle (‘Congress’) was living. They played there the day after this one (with ‘Blindfold’ and ‘Congress’).

‘Undone’ appeared here for the 2^nd time (after 94-04-23) and they’ld play here a few times more. A bunch of great friends: Christophe Mora (drums; Stonehenge recs & distro), Stéphane ‘Scholl’ Brochier (guitar, also did Kleines Mädchen distro & Infest zine), Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly (bass & vocals; later ‘Ananda) and Sullivan ‘Sully’ Chédanne (vocals). They had recorded for the split-EP with ‘Shatter The Myth’ earlier that year. The studio-sessions for the Dark Future LP weren’t until April 1995…

‘Undone’ photos courtsey of Joeri Hoste

Can’t remember who ‘Bitter Smile’ (also from France but not ‘Behind The Smile’) were…

Nice meeting up with Olivier Lépine (another correspondent) here aswell. And Aaron ‘Cometbus’!

Brob

‘Bitter Smile’ was actually ‘Behind The Smile’ under a new name (due to a new line-up) but if I remember well, they didn’t play that night!!! I have great memories of that gig: especially ‘dancing’ with Aaron Cometbus… Not a lot of people attended though…

Philippe Klur, Uprising Decay zine

To be honnest, I don’t have a lot of specific memories of ‘Undone’s gigs in Ieper… All I remember is that it was always such a pleasure and a great moment for us to drive up there and meet up with all our friends. We had the feeling to be part of something larger and more coherent, thanks to the people we met there and the experience we had…

Christophe Mora

‘Jawbreaker’ in 1994; I must have been there. Christy & I organized that tour together.

Mary Jane Weatherbee

I was at the ‘Jawbreaker’ show in the Vort’n Vis. I was so overwhelmingly happy to see people again after moving alone for so long and far… [Aaron (who’s zine Cometbus I’d been distributing) was riding his bike through several European countries; he wrote about it in one of his issues.]

Aaron ‘Cometbus’; personal communication

I certainly remember our Vort’n Vis gig, midways in our European tour… ‘It was initiated and organised by Johannes Schrammel of our German record-label Stormstrike recs. We were on the road for approximately 2 months, playing shows in Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium and UK. As far as I can recall, our show at V.V. was OK, an enjoyable affair, musically and socially. I guess we did our usual ‘94 European tour set, which mostly contained material from the mini-album released the same year (Worn Path), in addition to maximum 1 song from our ‘93 debut The Darkest Hour, 1-2 songs that were to be featured on the ‘95 album (What Absence Yields) and probably a cover (Burning Fight by ‘Inside Out’, Just Like You by ‘Judge’ or Break Down The Walls by ‘Youth Of Today’)…

We were all fans of ‘Jawbreaker’ and pretty stoked to play a show alongside such a great live act, as much as we were thrilled doing it at V.V. It was already a legendary venue (that we had read all about in many fanzines) in those days. I’m sorry to say but I don’t remember what the other bands were like.

The aftermath of our V.V. concert was kinda funny: instead of crashing at the V.V., Bjørnar (our guitarist), our roadie Erik and me hooked up with Saskia ‘Shortsight’ (who I had met at a ‘Shortsight’ show in Denmark the previous year). She took us to our very first rave, somewhere outside the city, where we hung out until dawn. When we got back to V.V., we found the rest of the band lying around on the floor of this shit-hole of a room (no offence but it was probably the most dirty and messy place we ever saw during this tour), scratching their bodies like maniacs. The rave actually saved us from catching scabies (!).

Anders Wimpelman, ‘Lash Out’ vocalist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…